It's a magical time of the year... the start of the Grand Prix series is here and that means summer is just around the corner.

Now I don't know about you, but when I first got wind of the idea of the GP in the early 90s I didn't like it. I was very much in the traditionalist camp where I wanted to see the one-off World Final retained.

I felt sad when I walked away from Vojens in 1994 having seen Tony Rickardsson win the last-ever one-off event to decide the world title.

But it didn't take long for me to change my view. Even before the BSI buyout of the series from the FIM, I could see this was the real deal.

It may have been on more modest tracks - we were seeing the British GP at Coventry in front of 8,000 and yet, thanks to the vision of Terry Russell and John Poslethwaite, we're now at Cardiff with a near 50,000 gate.

But even in the early stages of the 1995 season I got the feeling Ole Olsen was taking the world championship a step forward. The organisation was second to none and Ole ensure a smooth, slick presentation from the word go.

And here we are, 14-years later, contemplating Prague and the launch of another exciting Grand Prix season this coming weekend.

Same guys

My only 'downer' - if you can call it that - about the modern day series is that the same guys are up there in the top five or six year in, year out.

And this year will, in my view, be fairly similar. Some of the boys have put more pressure and expectation on themselves by quitting British racing to enhance their GP prospects - but it can't work for everyone.

Scotty Nicholls has suffered from illness in the build-up to Prague and has only just been given the correct medication for the virus. I hope he can do himself justice on Saturday but it will be tough after feeling so ill.

Reigning champion Nicki Pedersen has seen his early season build-up hit by the loss of his Polish contract - and again, this has been far from ideal.

But once again I expect the race for the title to be a two-horse race between Nicki and double world champ Jason Crump.

I never, ever thought I would see the day when Jason was missing from British racing. He's been a wonderful team man down the years but this season he is putting himself first.

He's a fantastic rider and he will push Nicki all the way, but I still feel the Great Dane will shade it.

I'd also like to see Leigh Adams in the mix. He's a wonderful rider and a great guy, but in all honesty I can't see him matching the consistency of Pedersen and Crump.

I'll go for Nicki to win the title again - just - with Jason second and Leigh third.

As for Scotty and fellow Brit Chris Harris - a place in the top eight would do nicely.

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